Commissioned by Plug In Institute of Contemporary Art in conjunction with their new signage, Walter Scott’s intervention to the façade of the Buhler Centre depicts two manicured hands reaching over the west facing horizontal window. The hands shift between pulling open and propping up the walls of the building—attempting to reshape an institution built on colonial desires of ownership and formalized academic education while making space for art. This uneasy relationship is further accentuated by the manicured nails replicating the red used in the lettering on the Buhler Centre signage, accentuating that we are part of these structures even as we challenge them. Scott writes: “The feminized hand presents itself as a force that perpetually attempts to open things up, and make space for the artists, the marginalized, and the curious.”

Walter Scott b. 1985, is an interdisciplinary artist working across comics, drawing, video, performance and sculpture. His comic series, Wendy, chronicles the continuing misadventures of a young artist in a satirical version of the contemporary art world.  Wendy has been featured in Canadian Art, Art in America, and published online on the New Yorker. Recent exhibitions include The Scrawled Heel of the Real, Ashley (Berlin), and The Pathos Of Mandy, at the ISCP, New York. Walter was recently an artist-in-residence, at the ISCP, in Brooklyn, New York. His new graphic novel, Wendy, Master of Art, is now available from Drawn and Quarterly.

Acknowledgments

We are on Treaty 1 Territory. Plug In ICA is located on the territories of the Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and the homeland of the Métis Nation.

Plug In ICA extends our heartfelt gratitude to the artists we work with, our generous donors, valued members, and dedicated volunteers. We acknowledge the sustaining support of our Director’s Circle. You all make a difference.

We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Canada Council, the Manitoba Arts Council and Winnipeg Arts Council. We could not operate without their continued financial investment and lobbying efforts.

Plug In ICA relies on community support to remain free and accessible to all, and enable us to continue to present excellent programs. Please consider becoming a member of Plug In ICA and a donor at https://plugin.org/support or by contacting Angela Forget at angela@plugin.org.

For more information on public programming and exhibitions contact Luther Konadu at luther@plugin.org.

For general information, please contact: info@plugin.org or call 1.204.942.1043